It doesn't matter if there is a conspiracy or not. With software it's easy to see. Are there dependencies on Systemd which prevent another init? Are GTK 3 desktops/applications inferior to their GTK 2 counterparts? One can always ask why, but at the end of the day it doesn't matter. What matters is how one deals with it. This is what led me to MX Linux.

If people create things that suck (Systemd, GTK 3 etc.) then there may be a conspiracy, but there is also the very real possibility that these people like sucky things. Never underestimate the influence of bad taste. :)